Our February-born lambs are growing and that means it's time for some of them to leave our farm and become part of our Farmers Market lamb product range. When we had 7 sheep, it was a hard thing to do - choosing which lamb left the farm to be turned into meat for our freezer. If you want to know the truth, I used to cry. Back then, the fate of a lamb was pre-determined. If it was a boy, it would become meat. If it was a girl, she would live her life out here at our farm. Now that we have so many lambs and ewes (and a couple rams), being a ewe lamb doesn't guarantee you are going to live here forever. Now, it's all about weight.
Sunday afternoon, we spent the day as a family, catching lambs......
weighing them......
recording the weights......
marking the ones who were not heavy enough to go away.......
and loading the trailer with the ones who went away Monday. Lots of work got done that needed to be done. It was a good day - beautiful sunny weather with a bit of coolness in the air signaling the arrival of fall tomorrow! The dogs love when we all spend the day outside with the sheep and them doing real work. That's what makes a sheep dog tick, for sure. Doesn't Nessie look like she is smiling?
5 comments:
Kristin,
I totally understand. If/when we lose some of our chickens, I will be sad. But not if/when we lose a rooster. One of them attacks me! And yes, it looks as if your dog is smiling and happy!
xo, Cheryl
I've always loved your blog. It feels like I'm getting to visit a hobby farm!
This is exactly the post people need to read who don't have an appreciation for raising your own food. It's hard work, emotional work, but it's so much more humane! Great post.
Great post!
I´m crying a bit every fall but at the same time I love the life we give them during the summer. We dont have so many lambs so we eat the meat with great respect.
Very lovely to se that you work together on the farm as a family like we are.
/Chatarina (in Sweden)
I love this sequence of pictures. Family farming brings families closer together through work and play. What a lovely daughter you have.
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